Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A01—AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
  • A01J—MANUFACTURE OF DAIRY PRODUCTS
  • A01J5/00—Milking machines or devices
  • A01J5/017—Automatic attaching or detaching of clusters
  • A01J5/0175—Attaching of clusters

Definitions

• a method and a device for manoeuvring teat cups for milking dairy animals are disclosed.
• the object of the invention is to solve the above stated problems.
• the present invention solves the above stated problems by means of a device having the features mentioned in the characterising part of claim 1 and a method having the characterising features of claim 9.
• teat cups in a milking apparatus are manoeuvred by a robot arm which is provided with gripping means which can grip a teat cup wherein said gripping means is provide with means for changing the angle that a teat cup is inclined to the vertical. In this way the angle to the vertical of the teat cup can be adjusted to approach that of the teat which it is intended to be attached to.
• the means for changing the angle can selectively move a teat cup between two or more predetermined angles.
• the operation of the device is simplified as it is possible to provide stops at the selected positions instead of needing to use some form of feedback or position dete ⁇ mning means.
• the means for changing the angle of inclination of the teat cup is infinitely variable between its end limits. In this way the angle of the teat cup can more exactly correspond to that of the teat and thereby reduce the risk of the teat not being correctly fed into the teat cup.
• Figure 1 shows an example of a milking stall with an embodiment of a milking robot in accordance with the present invention
• Figure 2 shows a vertically aligned teat cup which is moved upwards towards a an inclined teat so that the teat is not fed into the teat cup;
• Figure 3 is a schematic view of one embodiment of a teat cup inclining means in accordance with the invention with the teat cup in a first position;
• Figure 4 is a schematic view of one embodiment of a teat cup inclining means in accordance with the invention with the teat cup in a second position;
• Figures 5a) and 5b) show schematically lateral views of a robot arm in accordance with the present invention
• Figure 6 shows a perspective schematic view of a second embodiment of a teat cup mclining means in accordance with the invention.
• Figure 1 shows an example of a milking stall S provided with a milking robot R.
• Robot R has a robot arm 13 which has pivotable teat cup gripping means 15 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention at its distal end.
• FIG 2 shows schematically a lateral view of the udder 1 of an animal.
• Two of the teats 3, 5 of the udder are shown and they are inclined in opposite directions to the vertical.
• Teat 3 is inclined approximately 30° to the left of the vertical while teat 5 inclines approximately 45° to the right of the vertical.
• an inclination to the left will be called a positive inclination while an inclination to the right will be called a negative inclination.
• a teat cup 7 is shown approaching teat 3 from below. Teat cup 7 is held firmly with its longitudinal axis vertical by openable and closable gripping means 9 on a prior art robot arm 1 1.
• teat 3 It is moved in the direction of the arrow by the robot arm and is intended to fit around teat 3.
• the teat cup 7 shown in dotted lines it is possible that the teat is not correctly fed into the teat cup but is instead caught on the edge of the teat cup. If this occurs and is not detected then as the teat cup advances upwards the teat 3 may be come bent and end up lying on top of the teat cup instead of inside it, or, even worse, it may become folded and sucked sideways into the teat cup, possibly injuring the teat.
• FIG. 3 shows schematically one embodiment of a robot arm 13 provided with pivotable gripping means 15 shown in a first operative position.
• pivotable gripping means 15 comprises bell-crank means such as an L-shaped support 17 pivotably mounted about a horizontal axis 19 attached to the distal end 21 of robot arm 13.
• Bell crank has a short arm 23 which is attached to an actuating rod 25 of actuating means 27 which can be a linear actuator of any suitable type such as a pneumatic actuator, an hydraulic actuator, a solenoid, a rack and pinion drive or the like.
• Bell crank 17 also has a long arm 29 which is attached to short arm 23 at any suitable angle, e.g. for the sake of example 90°.
• Long arm 29 comprises teat cup gripping means 31 which can be any suitable type known in the art and which are not part of the inventive concept of the present invention and which are not shown in detail for the sake of ease of comprehension of the figures.
• the actuating rod 25 is retracted so that long arm 29 inclines downwards from horizontal axis 19 at an angle of approximately 30°.
• Teat cup 7 is held substantially perpendicular to long arm 29 and consequently it makes an angle of positive 30° to the vertical. This is approximately the same as the angle that teat 3 makes to the vertical. This means that when robot arm 13 is moved to a position below and to the left of teat 3 it is easy to align the teat cup 7 with the projected longitudinal axis of teat 3.
• Figure 4 shows the robot arm 13 from figure 2 in a second operative position when it is preparing to attach a teat cup 7 to teat 5.
• teat 5 is on the opposite side of the udder from teat 3 and extends at an angle of approximately negative 45° to the vertical.
• Actuating rod 25 has been extended so that long arm 29 inclines upwards from horizontal axis 19 at an angle of approximately 45°.
• Teat cup 7 is still held substantially perpendicular to long arm 29 and consequently it makes an angle of negative 45° to the vertical. This is approximately the same as the angle that teat 5 make to the vertical.
• teat 3 it becomes easy to align teat cup 7 with teat 5.
• the amount which actuator rod 25 extends of retracts can be controlled by the normally present control device not shown) which controls the movement of robot arm 13 or by an additional control means (not shown).
• the information on the angle which the teats 3, 5 make to the vertical (or to the horizontal or to some other frame of reference) can be derived from the normally present teat recognition means such as, for example, a laser light emitter and detectors, or cameras 24 (shown schematically).
• the normally present teat recognition means such as, for example, a laser light emitter and detectors, or cameras 24 (shown schematically).
• stops shown symbolically by 33, 35, 37 In order to prevent actuator rod 25 retracting or extending too far it and/or robot arm 13 can be provided with stops shown symbolically by 33, 35, 37. If the actuator 27 has a freely moving actuator rod 25 it can be biased by for example spring means 39 so that when no power is supplied to actuator 27 it is takes up an intermediate position so that long arm 29 is substantially horizontal.
• the actuator rod 27 has no positive position control and is either fully retracted (maximum positive angle of inclination) or fully extended (maximum negative angle of inclination). This however means that there is no simple way of positioning the long arm 29 horizontally in order to pick up a teat cup 7 and it is therefore preferable to have a biasing means 39 in order to provide a third distinct arm inclination, namely, no inclination (neutral position).
• actuator 27 is a solenoid in which case the neutral position can be obtained when the solenoid is not energised, the maximum negative inclination can be obtained with a potential difference having one polarity applied and the maximum positive inclination can be obtained with the reverse polarity.
• Latching means (not shown) can be provided in order to releasably hold the long arm 29 in the respective maximum positions.
• the actuating means produce a substantially linear effect on the inclination of the gripping means, in other words, a certain displacement of the actuator always causes the same angular change in the position of the gripping means irrespective of the actual angle of inclination of the gripping means.
• the actuator could be a stepper motor or an actuator influence by a stepper motor (e.g. by means of a treaded rod and moving nut or a rack-and-pinion system increasing or decreasing the pressure exerted on a piston in the actuator) in which one revolution of the motor always causes the same angular displacement of the gripping means e.g. 1 revolution of the stepper motor causes a 2° rotation of the gripping means.
• FIG. 5a shows a lateral view of a robot arm 41 which supports a gripping means 43.
• Gripping means 43 is pivotably mounted at an end of robot arm 41 and is connected to a parallel arm 45 which is pivoted in such a way that when robot arm 41 moves up and down the angle that the gripping means to the horizontal remains the same as is shown by the image in dashed lines.
• Parallel arm 45 has length adjusting means 47 which can be, for example, a threaded rod and nut arrangement or a telescopic hydraulic cylinder or actuator or the like which can lengthen or shorten parallel arm 45.
• the length adjusting means can be operated by any suitable control means (not shown).
• Figure 5b) shows how the angle that the gripping means 43 makes to the horizontal can be simply changed by adjusting the length of the parallel arm 45.
• length adjusting means 47 has been operated so as to lengthen parallel arm 45 so that gripping means 43 is at an angle of ⁇ ° to the horizontal. As before when robot arm 41 moves up and down the angle that the gripping means 43 to the horizontal remains the same as is shown by the image in dashed lines.
• the movement of the master cylinder piston is then transmitted by a hydraulic line to the cylinder of the slave cylinder.
• This causes the slave cylinder piston to move and by means of suitable linkages and/or cams the movement of the slave cylinder piston can be transmitted to the gripping means in order to compensate for the movement of the robot arm.
• FIG. 6 shows a perspective schematic view of a second embodiment of a robot arm 51 provided with gripping means 53 in accordance with the invention.
• This embodiment is substantially similar to the previous embodiment except that the gripping means 53 is rotatable about the longitudinal axis L of the robot arm 51 in addition to being rotated about a horizontal axis H.
• This can be achieved in various ways, for example by rotating the robot arm 51 about its longitudinal axis L or by providing a rotary joint 55 and gripping means rotating means 57 on the robot arm 51. In this way the gripping means 53 has more freedom of movement.

Landscapes

• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Animal Husbandry (AREA)
• Environmental Sciences (AREA)
• Manipulator (AREA)
• Mechanical Means For Catching Fish (AREA)
• Toys (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (5)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=26663392

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (4)

Families Citing this family (5)

Family Cites Families (6)

• 1998
  • 1998-10-28 SE SE9803700A patent/SE517702C2/sv not_active IP Right Cessation
• 1999
  • 1999-09-03 WO PCT/SE1999/001525 patent/WO2000013491A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 1999-09-03 AU AU58946/99A patent/AU5894699A/en not_active Abandoned
  • 1999-09-03 EP EP99946553A patent/EP1109439A1/en not_active Withdrawn

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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